FFF

Day 1647

Those of you old enough to remember Rowan & Martin will get this reference.Those of you too young will have to g00gle it maybe.But –

Remember Laugh-In, and their Fickle Finger of Fate?Well, here at the blue & orange box (my former employer was known locally as “The Big Yellow Box”) we now apparently have the Fickle Filter of Fate.Used to be I could pretty much surf where ever I liked at lunch time, so long as I avoided any of the obviously poor choices available out there.

Then our IT guys got a new toy and they started filtering out sites that weren’t really rude, but were clearly not work related.Diaryland was the first to go.Anything with diaryland in the URL was blocked.As you can imagine, that made it a little tougher to post.Type away at lunch time, post at home come evening.No biggie there, but it made it tougher to peek in on the folks I’d run across/met/read regularly at D-land.

Then the Blogger journals got blocked.Could only access them from home.So I did, as regularly as I could.For a while, the only places I could see here at work were wordpress sites and a handful of folks on independent domains.

Today, that seems to have changed.Now there are blocked wordpress sites, but the blogger sites appear to be readable.Pictures hosted off site (on flickr or similar sites) are blocked, but text content and some design features come through.Still – it’s a less than satisfying surfing experience. I’m sure that by next week, any ‘social networking’ site will be banned.I’ve already given up all hope on places like facebook or myspace.Youtube?Not a chance.I can’t even peek at the submissions on Wicked Weasel anymore, although quite a few of those left nothing to the imagination.Or maybe offeredtoo much for the imagination.Either way – it was a diversion.

So it looks like I will have to alter my voyeuristic habits again and carve out some time each week to check out how all my favorite reads are doing.If you’re one of them, don’t go thinking I’ve abandoned you, I’m just being filtered.

Had a bit of a revelation at work today.Been struggling lately, for the last 3 or 4 years really.Not with the technical aspects really, but more with motivation.What I thought was being perceived as being cool under fire has been labeled complacency.What I thought was a lack of feeling connected has been identified as not being out in front of a problem.What I perceived as not being given ownership of desired projects I think I more not taking ownership.

Best part of this little epiphany is that I got to sit down with my boss and talk about it all.It started out to be a goal setting session,I mentioned how I struggled with goal setting this year, and how I was feeling a little disconnected.The goals I had finally settled on were all aimed at getting re-engaged.The session was scheduled for only 30 minutes.We went 45 and still cut it short.Great meeting.Best part was my boss liked my plan/goals.Worst part?Now I gotta meet them.Good part? At least I’ll have the opportunity.

Another old show reference.Remember Hee Haw and Grandpa?He’d do that thing with Roy going back and forth about “that’s a good thing/no that’s a bad thing”.Kinda what that little epiphany was.Felt bad. (bad!) Figured out what was wrong. (good!)Need a plan to fix it (bad).Figured out a way to fix it (good!)Now I have to do it (bad).